Late Mofokeng winner sees Pirates edge Sundowns to defend Nedbank Cup

Relebohile Mofokeng capped a fine debut season by helping Orlando Pirates defend the Nedbank Cup trophy where the Buccaneers had to come from behind to beat league champions Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 at a buzzing Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Saturday.  

Mofokeng poked in Pirates’ winner in referee’s optional time after Patrick Maswanganyi had found Bucs’ equaliser from the penalty spot.

The win was marred by the penalty that referee Skhumbuzo Gasa gave to Pirates in the 69th minute.   

The 19-year-old Mofokeng was called for the first time by Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos to his squad to face Nigeria and Zimbabwe in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier next week. The call-up added to Mofokeng being nominated for the Young PSL’s Player of the Season.  

So good is Mofokeng’s skills that he’s already attracted overseas clubs, including English Premier League outfit Wolves who invited him for trials in January.

Bafana coach Broos has, however, warned against rushing Mofokeng to sell him overseas.

His warning may now fall on deaf ears as Mofokeng's winner, which came after he had put the ball between Bongani Zungu’s legs, will further raise his stature and attract more overseas clubs during in the off season.    

The win is huge for Bucs coach Jose Riveiro who has now won four out of five domestic cup competitions since his arrival at Pirates at the start of last season.   

Sundowns started far better than Pirates and should have gone 1-0 in the 6th minute when a combination of Deon Hotto and Thabiso Sesane brought down Khuliso Mudau inside the area promting Gasa to point to the spot.  

Goalkeeper Sipho Chaine, who saved three penalties when Pirates beat Sundowns in the MTN8 final early in the season, again pulled his team out of trouble when he kept out Lucas Riberio’s free kick. 

This match was delayed for over 20 minutes because of chaos outside the stadium as both the PSL and police officers showed there were not prepared to handle a sold-out crowd. Many fans only managed to get in during the second half and luckily for them they didn’t miss a goal.   

But this doesn’t mean the PSL must get away with their poor organising.  The league should have anticipated that there would be extreme traffic in and around the stadium where some people had to walk long distances to get to the venue after being stuck in traffic.   

Both Sundowns coach Rulani Mowena and Riveiro applied caution in their starting line-ups.

There was a touch of defensive approach and this was more glaring for Pirates with Riveiro deciding to leave in-form attackers Kabelo Dlamini, Tshegofatso Mabasa and Mofokeng on the bench.  

Mokwena started with as many as four combative midfielders in Teboho Mokoena, Bathusi Aubaas, Zungu and Marcelo Allende while leaving attackers like Matias Esquivel and Tashreeq Matthews on the bench.   

Target man Peter Shalilile was among a few Sundowns players who missed this match because of injury. Shalulile’s absence was felt by Sundowns as Riberio was often isolated. But the Brazilian managed to sort that problem when he set up Zwane for the opening goal in the 53rd minute.

Riberio, by far the best Sundowns player in his debut season in the PSL, dribbled past a few Pirates defenders before laying an pass for Zwane to have an easy tap in.   

On the balance of play, Sundowns deserved this lead as they again started the second period better than Pirates who just couldn’t find a way to go past Sundowns in midfield where Mokoena, Allende and Aubaas protected their defence well while also adding some dimension in their team’s attack.   

After conceding Riveiro changed Pirates’ game plan with the introduction of PSL’s Golden Boot winner Mabasa for Evidence Makgopa who had an off day.

It looked like it was Riveiro’s plan to introduce Mabasa, Dlamini and Mofokeng in the second half. But Bucs’ equaliser didn’t come because of those changes. Instead it was referee Gasa who gave Pirates what looked like a very soft penalty after Maswanganyi had cleverly pushed himself into the path of Aubrey Modiba in the 69th minute.  

So fresh was Maswanganyi from that"tackle" that he never had any problem sending Bafana Bafana’s No 1 Ronwen Williams the wrong way to give Bucs an undeserved and hugely disputable equaliser.  

Perhaps Gasa was trying to make up for the first penalty he gave to Sundowns because that too had a hint of being unnecessary.    

But there was no dispute about the Bucs’ winner as Mofokeng once again showed why he’s destined to be big star of SA football in the coming years.